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Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival · 2021

Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival 2021

Official Selection

Programme

19 films · 6 reviews

Jump to a film

Animals

Drama about a gay young man who is struggling to come out to his family.

(Country: Belgium, France; Year: 2021; Director: Nabil Ben Yadir; Writer: Nabil Ben Yadir, Antoine Cuypers; Stars: Soufiane Chilah, Gianni Guettaf, Serkan Sancak, Lionel Maisin, Camille Freychet, Vincent Overath)

Big Night

The film follows one long night in the life of Dharna, a law-abiding and peace-loving gay beautician, whose life takes a sudden turn for the worse after he is placed in the neighbourhood “watchlist” of drug users.

(Year: 2021; Director: Jun Robles Lana; Writer: Jun Robles Lana; Stars: Christian Bables, Eugene Domingo, John Arcilla, Gina Pareno, Gina Alajar)

Dear Thomas

Review preview for Dear Thomas

If it loses something in terms of definitive events, it gains a more poetic fluidity from the approach.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
The struggles of East German author and filmmaker Thomas Brasch.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2021; Director: Andreas Kleinert; Writer: Thomas Wendrich; Stars: Albrecht Schuch, Jella Haase, Ioana Iacob, Jörg Schüttauf, Anja Schneider, Joel Basman, Emma Bading, Peter Kremer, Claudio Magno, Zoë Valks, Paula Hans, Marlen Ulonska, Matthias Bundschuh, Andreas Leupold, Matthew Burton)

Full review

The Gentiles

Ana adores her friend Corrales, a magnetic and dazzling classmate, who fantasises about taking her own life.

(Country: Spain; Year: 2021; Director: Santi Amodeo; Writer: Santi Amodeo, Rafael Cobos; Stars: África de la Cruz, Paula Díaz, Olga Navalón, Lola Buero, Alva Inger, Beatriz Cotobal, Teresa Cruz, Rafa de Vera)

Herd Immunity (Onbagandar)

Crime and corruption in rural Kazakhstan in the shadow of Covid.

(Country: Kazakhstan; Year: 2021; Director: Adilkhan Yerzhanov; Writer: Adilkhan Yerzhanov; Stars: Daniyar Alshinov, Nurbek Mukushev, Yerzhan Zhamankulov, Assel)

Killing The Eunuch Khan

A serial killer designs a plan in which victims kill victims.

(Country: Iran; Year: 2021; Director: Abed Abest; Writer: Abed Abest; Stars: Vahid Rad, Mah-Sima Kabari, Ebrahim Azizi, Sara Mohammadi, Iman Basim, Missagh Zareh)

The List Of Those Who Love Me (Beni Sevenler Listesi)

Review preview for The List Of Those Who Love Me

Erdogdu has something serious to say but never takes himself too seriously in the process.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
A drug dealer becomes increasingly desperate to retain his social circle as his supply dries up.

(Country: Turkey; Year: 2021; Director: Emre Erdogdu; Writer: Emre Erdogdu; Stars: Halil Babür, Hayal Köseoglu, Sermet Yesil, Onur Ünlü, Nazli Bulum, Can Evrenol, Ahmet Rifat Sungar, Murat Utku)

Full review

Make The Devil Laugh

Review preview for Make The Devil Laugh

The Mino brothers are at their best in the film's smaller moments, the early domesticity of a family celebration or a shared piece of good fortune with co-workers handled with a welcome naturalism.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
After a man kills to protect his mother and sister he finds it hard to achieve social rehabilitation in a society that has labelled him a murderer.

(Country: Japan; Year: 2021; Director: Ryuichi Mino; Writer: Kazuhiko Mino; Stars: Shuhei Handa, Masahiro Umeda, Mariko Akama, Tadashi Sakata, Mai Ohtani, Yoshinori Okada)

Full review See: Making Make The Devil Laugh: Mino brothers on their scrutiny of society

Mukagali (Muqagali)

Biopic of poet Mukagali Makataev, who only achieved recognition after his death.

(Country: Kazakhstan; Year: 2021; Director: Bolat Kalymbetov; Writer: Zhusipbek Korghasbek, Bolat Khalymbetov; Stars: Aslanbek Zhanbalayev, Tolganai Bisembayeva, Raushan Mazhitova, Bakytzhan Kazhymukanov, Zhamal Seidakmetova)

No. 10 (Nr. 10)

Review preview for No. 10

A unique piece of cinema which delivers more than its share of surprises.

Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
A man who was was a found in the forest and raised by a foster family begins to question his origins after an encounter with a stranger.

(Country: Netherlands, Belgium; Year: 2021; Director: Alex van Warmerdam; Writer: Alex van Warmerdam; Stars: Tom Dewispelaere, Frieda Barnhard, Hans Kesting, Anniek Pheifer, Pierre Bokma, Dirk Böhling, Mandela Wee Wee, Richard Gonlag, Gene Bervoets, Liz Snoyink, Alexander ElMecky, Kim Karssen, Jan Bijvoet, Tobias Nierop, Stijn Van Opstal)

Full review

No Looking Back (Otorvi i vybros)

After a woman is released from prison following a sentence for stabbing her partner in the eye, she tries to reconnect with her daughter, going so far as to kidnap her... with the girl's grandma in hot pursuit.

(Year: 2021; Director: Kirill Sokolov; Writer: Kirill Sokolov; Stars: Anna Mikhalkova, Victoria Korotkova, Sofia Krugova, Alexander Yatsenko, Olga Lapshina)

Perpetuity (Hatorszag)

Post-apocalyptic drama about a good man living in a depraved reality.

(Country: Hungary; Year: 2021; Director: György Pálfi; Writer: György Pálfi; Stars: Julia Ubrankovics, Csaba Gosztonyi, Tamás Polgár, Attila Menszátor-Héresz)

A Place Called Dignity

Review preview for A Place Called Dignity

In the absence of script and character development he relies on things like the heavy use of a blue filter and the increasing volume of Handel's Sarabande form Suite No4 in D Minor in a bid to shore up the mood.

Amber Wilkinson · 3 out of 5
Considering the dark past of Chile's Colonia Dignidad through the eyes of a child.

(Country: Chile, Argentina, Germany; Year: 2021; Director: Matías Rojas Valencia; Writer: Matías Rojas Valencia; Stars: Paulina García, Clara Larrain, Amalia)

Full review

Songs For A Fox (Dainos lapei)

Review preview for Songs For A Fox

Vildziunas' film never slackens in its imagination but it becomes increasingly self-indulgent as things progress.

Amber Wilkinson · 2.5 out of 5
After his lover's death, a rock singer studies the art of lucid dreaming and descends into a netherworld in hopes of being together again.

(Country: Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia; Year: 2021; Director: Kristijonas Vildziunas; Writer: Kristijonas Vildziunas; Stars: Agnese Cirule, Lukas Malinauskas, Mantas Zemleckas, Agnieska Ravdo, Saulius Bareikis)

Full review

A Vanishing Fog (Chile)

Drama centred on a mountain guard and his father set against the backroads of the world’s largest Alpine tundra ecosystem.

(Country: Colombia, Czechia, Norway; Year: 2021; Director: Augusto Sandino; Writer: Augusto Sandino; Stars: Sebastian Pii, Christian Ballesteros, Mario de Jesús Viana, Sandra Roses, Nury Márquez)

The Wait (Odotus)

The film is inspired by Finnish writer Juhani Aho’s novel The Vicar’s Wife, with the events brought to today’s world.

(Country: Finland; Year: 2021; Director: Aku Louhimies; Writer: Inka Kallén, Aku Louhimies; Stars: Inka Kallén, Aku Hirviniemi, Andrei Alén, Eino Heiskanen, Adeliina Arajuuri)

The Wedding Day (Wesele)

The past and present blurs at an eventful wedding.

(Country: Poland, Latvia; Year: 2021; Director: Wojciech Smarzowski; Writer: Wojciech Smarzowski; Stars: Robert Wieckiewicz, Michalina Labacz, Agata Kulesza, Ryszard Ronczewski, Mateusz Wieclawek, Agata Turkot, Tomasz Schuchardt, Arkadiusz Jakubik, Andrzej Chyra, Michal Gadomski, Przemyslaw Przestrzelski, Krzysztof Kowalewski, Anna Szymanczyk, Michael S. Ruscheinsky, Katarzyna Cynke)

What Went Wrong (¿Qué hicimos mal?)

Autofiction sees the director Lili track down former lovers to ask, “What went wrong?”

(Country: Spain; Year: 2021; Director: Liliana Torres; Writer: Liliana Torres; Stars: Xúlio Abonjo, Héctor Carballo, Melania Cruz, Jorge Roldan, Jorge Roldán, Adrián Ríos, Isabella Tabarini, Liliana Torres, Luis Velazquez)

Yanagawa

Two brothers take a trip to Yanagawa, Japan, to find the woman they both loved in their youth.

(Country: China; Year: 2021; Director: Lu Zhang; Writer: Lu Zhang; Stars: Sôsuke Ikematsu, Ryôko Nakano, Ni Ni, Bai Qing Xin, Luyi Zhang)